Ideal government and the mixed constitution in the Middle Ages / James M. Blythe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blythe, James M., 1948- author.

Series:

Princeton Legacy Library ; 184

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political science--History.

Political science.

Constitutional history, Medieval.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (362 pages)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [1992]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Ancient Greeks and Romans often wrote that the best form of government consists of a mixture of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. Political writers in the early modern period applied this idea to government in England, Venice, and Florence, and Americans used it in designing their constitution. In this history of political thought James Blythe investigates what happened to the concept of mixed constitution during the Middle Ages, when the work of the Greek historian Polybius, the source of many of the formal elements of early modern theory, was unknown in Latin. Although it is generally argued that Renaissance and early modern theories of mixed constitution derived from the revival of classical Polybian models, Blythe demonstrates the pervasiveness of such ideas in high and late medieval thought. The author traces medieval Aristotelian theories concerning the best form of government and concludes that most endorsed a limited monarchy sharing many features with the mixed constitution. He also shows that the major early modern ideas of mixed constitutionalism stemmed from medieval and Aristotelian thought, which partially explains the enthusiastic reception of Polybius in the sixteenth century.Originally published in 1992.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgments

PART 1: The Mixed Constitution

CHAPTER 1. Introduction

CHAPTER 2. The Mixed Constitution in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages

PART 2: Thomas Aquinas and His Successors

CHAPTER 3. Thomas Aquinas

CHAPTER 4. Giles of Rome

CHAPTER 5. Peter of Auvergne

CHAPTER 6. Ptolemy of Lucca

CHAPTER 7. Engelbert of Admont

CHAPTER 8. John of Paris

PART 3: The Fourteenth Century

CHAPTER 9. Aristotelian Political Thought in the Fourteenth Century

CHAPTER 10. Relativism and the Best Polity

CHAPTER 11. Kingship, Popular Sovereignty, and the Mixed Constitution

CHAPTER 12. Nicole Oresme and the Synthesis of Aristotelian Political Thought

PART 4: The Fifteenth Century and the Early Modern Period

CHAPTER 13. Conciliarism

CHAPTER 14. Later Theories of Mixed Government in England and Northern Europe

CHAPTER 15. The Mixed Constitution and Italian Republicanism

CHAPTER 16. Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [309]-336) and index.

ISBN:

9780691602974

0691602972

9780691632421

0691632421

9781400862603

1400862604

OCLC:

889252660